Yesterday, Part 2

After Wednesday's craziness, I went with the beautiful and talented Colleen Michaels to a reception at Montserrat College of Art for the unveiling of a large-scale project in downtown Beverly (where I live). The reception included a presentation on the funding awarded from the National Endowment for the Arts to create an arts and cultural district.

Also, I met Montserrat’s Artist-in-Residence Anna Schuleit Haber.

In early 2013, Anna was chosen as the finalist, from a field of 75 artists, to submit designs for public art in downtown Beverly, as part of the National Endowment for the Arts, (NEA) Arts and Cultural District Public Art Competition, hosted by the city of Beverly, Montserrat College of Art and Beverly Main Streets. Last night, she gave an overview of her body of work (amazing!), presented some of her past installations (whoa!), and introduced us to her winning proposal:

The Beverly Oracle (Ghost in the Machine: Ancient Oracle Returns at Dawn of Digital Era)

It’s complicated but cool. It will have city-wide locations, but the focal point will be “a freestanding, ground level, single-room structure with a roof and tall glass windows that contains the Beverly Oracle.”  It will be visual and interactive. AND there will be a significant poetry component.

My head is spinning with possibilities, but mostly, I am reminded why I love where I live. I love that our city would back such a large-scale art project, and that poetry will be a part of it. Not just local poets, but the plan (at this writing) is to include poets from across the country.

I believe the completion is scheduled for sometime in 2015. I get tingly thinking about the possibilities.

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The reception and this project gave me something fantastic to think about after a very long, strange day.

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Check out Anna's site-specific project for the Fine Arts Center at UMass Amherst, 2010, involving a face, a pond, and wild ducks.